The present invention relates generally to computer network connections in a large scale network environment, and more particularly, to a system and method for providing addresses and ports for specific nodes in the computer network using a dynamic port management module.
There are many types of computer networks, including local area networks, wide area networks, and the Internet. Companies and organizations often use local or wide area networks as their private networks to link individual nodes (e.g., computers) for email communications, remote access, and internal data sharing. Depending on the sizes of the companies, these private networks can be very large. In order to maintain the integrity of the private networks, the nodes therein are often connected through a gateway to an outside network such as the Internet for additional communication purposes.
Typically, each node will have a unique network address for the private network. The address, however, may not be of the type or format that is commonly used for the another network with which nodes on the private network may communicate. For example, the private network may use an address format other than Internet Protocol (IP), while IP addresses are required for the Internet. In this example, the address used in the private network may not be used for communications with nodes connected to (or through) the Internet. In this situation, the gateway will have to assign a registered IP address to the node of the private network that is communicating with or through the Internet.
What is needed is a system and method for allowing the gateway to properly assign an IP address (or other appropriate address) to facilitate the communication between the nodes of disparate networks.
In addition to properly assigning an IP address to a node in a private network, the gateway must also control the use of ports that are employed in application sessions. What is also needed also is a system and method for network address mapping along with intelligent dynamic port management.